Friedrich List

List, Friedrich (frēˈdrĭkh lĭst) [key], 1789–1846, German economist. The first professor of economics at the Univ. of Tübingen, he was elected (1820) to the Württemberg legislature. For his advocacy of administrative reforms he was sentenced to imprisonment but was released on condition that he would emigrate to the United States. There he engaged in various enterprises, and in 1832 he was returned to Germany as U.S. consul at Leipzig. Insisting upon the necessity for a commercial association of German states and the full development of productive powers in those states, he became a ceaseless advocate of a customs union (Zollverein). He urged a policy of economic protection for young industries and nations. Many of his influential ideas were subsequently adopted by the U.S. government. List's most important work is The National System of Political Economy (1840, tr. 1904).

See M. Hirst, Life of Friedrich List and Selections from His Writings (1909, repr. 1965).